MANSFIELD -
"Well if you think Shayna's a girl playing baseball, you're clearly mistaken."
Truer words couldn't have been spoken by Don DeBolt, the head coach of Shayna Menzer's baseball team in Mansfield.
"She's a baseball player."
Menzer, a 13 year-old who's played with boys for many years, will be a part of an all-girls team traveling to Orlando, FL the weekend of May 30-31 to play in the inaugural Baseball For All 2015 National tournament.
"I wish I was her," said Michelle Menzer, Shayna's mother.
When asked what she likes about baseball, Shayna keeps it simple.
"It's just fun," she said.
Shayna started playing baseball when she was three because her two older brothers played baseball.
"My sister would beg and beg to come play catch with us," said Shayna's brother, Jaden. "But at the time, we didn't really want to play catch with her because she couldn't throw a baseball well."
Very quickly, Shayna started doing everything well and better than everyone else. People have taken notice.
"My whole team at Mansfield High School is always getting on me," said Shayna's brother, Jared. "Saying that she's always better than me. I can't really lie about it. They know it, too."
"I just think of myself as a baseball player," said Shayna. "It doesn't matter if you're a boy or a girl."
This weekend, Shayna will play with the best girls baseball players in the entire country. It's a little exciting.
"I think she's going to do great," said Michelle. "If she can play with the best of the boys and she plays on the All-Star boys team here, I think she's going to hang in there and she's going to do great."
When it comes to advice that she'd give other girls who are looking to break barriers in sports, Shayna says, "Just follow your dreams and everything is possible."
